


Want To Be Real

by UberShortyChick327



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Loki - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adventure, Exploring, JARVIS has a body, Loki is sad, M/M, Tony is still a butt, learning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:32:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1953438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UberShortyChick327/pseuds/UberShortyChick327
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For reasons unknown even to him, Jarvis has constructed a human body for himself, his creator Tony unknowingly hiring him as his new nanny, (seeing as the famous iron man is an unsupervised grown superhero who can't play nice with his toys) finding that after some time he has started to become both intrigued and deeply invested in the stranger he seems to know nothing about. Loki stands quietly on the sidelines in regret of the pain he has caused during his recent pursuit of power, but what is the AI to know of his past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. first steps...

**Author's Note:**

> this is my second ever work that I've published on this site, so my grammar may be a bit off and I might rewrite some things I see as slow but all constructive criticism is openly welcome :D thank you guys for reading!

“Prepare to record data Jarvis!”

“Turning on cameras sir.” I responded in my mechanical voice, turning on the cameras for Mr. Stark’s latest weapons technology experiment.

            Mr. Stark took the new repulsers and excitedly attached them to the palms of his iron man suit. They were supposed to make a more powerful and accurate weapon now and become more stable during flight. I assembled the suit around him and recorded the ordeal as he hovered over the testing board as well as shot at cans. I could tell it had been a success seeing as there wasn’t a hole in the wall for some poor man to repair.

“Uh-huh!” Mr. Stark made the strange, somewhat garbled sound in delight. Doing a little victory dance for himself before taking off the face plate of the suit.

I began to reread the data and state what I had seen. “Experiment successful sir, beams were effectively compressed for more accurate targeting and flight is thirty four percent more stable.”

“Right, and what about power loss? How much am I gunna have to juice up these babies?” Mr. Stark asked.

“Only 10% loss of power when compressing the beams sir.”

“Hmmm….” He hummed as he looked at the beam. “I’m a genius.” He frowned. “But I’ll have to work on the power reduction.”

“If I may say so sir, when fighting, your opponent won’t really be able to tell the difference of power reduction.”

“Ah but that’s where your wrong Jarvis,” he smirked as I began to disassemble the suit, tucking it away for when he’d need it. “That ten percent could be the difference between an unconscious bad guy or someone shooting me in the face.”

“Very true sir, would you like me to scan the new repulsers so you may work on them at a later time?”

“Nah.” He waved it off. “I’ll tinker with it myself tomorrow…..” he trailed off, making a face. “Damn, I can’t do it tomorrow. I have to hire peopleeeee….”

            He drew out the last word in a whine and my curiosity got the better of me.

“Why is there a necessity for more help sir?” if I had a head it would have been tilt in curiosity.

“Pepper is so overrun as the CEO that she can’t do her old job.” He scowled at the bad breakup they’d had. I had witnessed the whole thing. Pepper was screaming and crying and throwing things, saying how she couldn’t handle the stress of dating Iron Man and that she wasn’t going to put up with him unless he got rid of the suit. And that was that. Pepper Pots was still CEO but she refused to see Mr. Stark unless it was business circumstances.

“I see sir.” I said before he got up, it was pretty late and he needed his rest to see all the new people tomorrow.

“Yeah, well… it doesn’t matter now.” He stretched, yawning loudly before rubbing the back of his neck. “Anyway, I think I’m gunna hit the hay Jarv. I’ll see you in the morning.”

            He waved as he headed off and I bid goodnight to him just before he left the workshop.

            I waited a few agonizing minutes until I saw him settle down in bed and started a light snore under his grayish purple bed spread.

            I hurriedly uncovered _my_ latest project from the cubby in the floor. I’d need to run a few diagnostics as well as adjust some final details before starting it up and starting the download process. I just hoped I could do this all in time for the interviews in the morning.

            I took a moment just to look at the synthetic body I’d put together over the coarse of a year, admiring my hard work and attention to detail. It looked completely human, I just needed to test and “tweek on it” as Mr. Stark would say, before I could download my own consciousness and present myself to Mr. Stark in the morning.

            I called Dummy over to help me with the step of filling my body’s artificial veins with a blood substitute. I had carefully thought this through for months, the dark, maroon colored liquid would make sure my organs would function as well as give me the allusion of warmth and a more realistic fluidness of movement.

            I made sure that the “brain” of my body was connected constantly to the super computer so I would be able to function and expand my knowledge as well as stay connected to the self that was trapped in the walls of the house. The final step started; the diagnostic running to make sure everything was in perfect working order and I wouldn’t wind up unable to move or have a paralytic arm when I woke up. This was all such perfect timing, I’d be able to wake up an hour earlier than needed if I was lucky.

            Dummy drawled out a long beep that bent in pitch as he rolled off to recharge. He really was a good companion in my work for the past year, always dependable and doing exactly as he was supposed to… except for the fire incident… he seemed to have problems with that fire extinguisher.

“Thank you Dummy.” I said and he beeped again before going into a dormant mode for recharge, I thought of it as his version of “sleeping.”

            I finally brought down the wires from the ceiling, hooking them all into the port at the back of the neck one by one in slow, almost nervous anticipation if I had been capable of feeling it. I would also have taken in a deep breath of hope if I could as I slid in the final wire and began the downloading process, a loading bar coming up in a form of ones and zeros in my mind and I tracked the process into the early hours of the morning, the only thing keeping me company being the background scene of my creator snoring in his room.

            I thought about why I had made this body in the first place. Was it because I could only expand my knowledge so much in the confines of these walls, everything registering as ones and zeros? Even the low quality camera feeds from the house in the numeric code? No. it wasn’t even the fact that I _had_ to stay in these walls. What made me make the body, lying bare on the table below my cameras, was because of the restrictions in my programming and cyber intelligence. It was because I couldn’t feel the warmth of a nice New York day or taste the chocolate cupcake Mr. Stark had given me for my “first birthday” and that I only knew the _ingredients_ with a probe I had stuck in the small dessert. That I couldn’t smell and that my hearing sensory was put into the one zero code that made my entire virtual world… and I longed for the real thing that I had seen so many people in my home express… or at least that’s how I’d describe it as I looked back on the memory.

“Download at one-hundred percent. Transaction successful.” The numbers flashed in code on my high-tech CPU and I checked the time. 8: 32 am.

            I had barely half an hour to revive myself, get dressed and find a way out of the house to fake a job interview.

            I wasted no time, waking Dummy out of his recharge state to witness the hopeful success he had helped so much with. Pulling out the equivalent of defibrillators I charged the two electrical pads, making sure that they were on the exact frequency needed before resting them on my new Body’s chest and counted to three.

            It was like my mind was torn into two, the first glimpse of physical sensation rushing through one half while the other froze in utter shock. Suddenly something snapped and all my cameras went blank, the codes ceasing to rush through my processer and I shot up to a sitting position. The alien sensation of a million artificial muscles moving at the same time and I thrashed as it was painful, falling to the floor as I gasped for air, sucking it greedily into my burning lungs and letting out a strangled cry.

This all happened in a matter of seconds, I convulsed on the floor, totally overwhelmed with sensation.

The smell of metal, car grease, oil, dust, and the musty sent of the concrete beneath me. the touch of the smooth floor’s surface on my skin, my muscles clenching and unclenching, my own wheat blond hair grazing my forehead, the taste of my own saliva and the dryness of my tongue on my own teeth, even the sound of my own heartbeat and writhing on the floor was overwhelming and I kept my eyes closed for the sake of my already overloaded mind.

It seemed like an eternity but it all settled down after a while, my body curled on the ground and soft little shudders going through me as I relaxed and got used to the sensations. It was also a bit cold on the ground, I thought somewhat out of place, but I had no clothes on so that might have contributed to that, I needed to find something to wear. But did I want to open my eyes and risk the overload again?

Why yes I did.

            I lifted my unused lids ever so slowly, the light of the dawn bright in my sensitive blue irises and I cringed as I saw, really _saw_ the workshop where me and Mr. Stark had spent so much time together over the years.

            I gasped at the beauty of it all. The gleaming metal highlights on the boldly painted cars in such clarity, the suits on the wall in the back behind a glittering glass case and the aqua colored hologram screens of Mr. Stark’s computers. Even the leather chair and the concrete beneath me were breath taking, no longer an infinite line of ones and zeros….. I let out a strangled sound of painful joy as I ran my fingers over the light grey ground and took in the sent of the air again.

_You may want to get up and get dressed._ It was hard to describe but let’s just say it was a voice that popped in my head, it was my own, but it was a separate consciousness, one kept in the walls… and it wasn’t as much as a voice as an idea.

“Jarvis? I mean… me?” our voices were similar but mine was smooth and more like a melodious hum than electronic.

“Yes, we are the same… but it appears we are not as connected as I would have thought. It seems I can only communicate with you silently through your connection with the super computer…”

            I looked at the ground, seeing my hands and turning them over, I traced one finger over the skin and smiled at the sensation. “No, I can feel you in the back of my mind… I can even sense who is where in the house….” I smiled wider. “This is so amazing.”

“I can vaguely feel you as well although I wish I could experience the same thing you are… technically I am. Seeing as you are me and I am you.”

“Yeah…” I was so overwhelmed I had nothing else to say.

“We will deal with this later.” the house part of me said. “Right now I will provide you with clothes and the application for the job Mr. Stark is offering.

“Oh yeah!” I yipped as I scrambled to my feet, wobbling for a moment before clumsily making my way over to the spot I had kept the change of clothes I’d need. It seemed alright to be naked I guess but I knew it wouldn’t do around others.

            The outfit consisted of a black collared polo that hugged my thin but tall frame and a pair of jeans that fit me well, not to formal and not to casual.

“Its five minutes till nine, Mr. Stark is getting out of the shower now, I suppose you get to the front door with the other applicants.”

“Good idea.” I said before looking myself over in the reflective glass in the door out, pausing to see my appearance.

            I was tall, a few inches taller than Mr. Stark and all lean muscle, not really noticeable tone but I wasn’t exactly soft either. With bright, Bahaman ocean blue eyes that almost glowed and had slight flaws that I’d have to fix, flaws like the spinning metal work behind the iris that adjusted and focused like a real eye. I also had golden, white blond hair that was askew on my head, hanging in my face and that just wouldn’t do. I slicked it back, licking my fingers to make it stay and revealing a widows peak, my locks falling behind my ears to frame my face nicely.

“He’s looking for an outfit.” My other half warned and I pushed open the doors without another word before sneaking out a side door and joining the nervously humming group of people outside the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony stark's Point of View

I had let them in one at a time through the door, dubbing all of them unfit to be around me. Why? For my own safety of course, because if I had to spend more than half an hour with any of them I think I would have shot myself in the head. Or maybe the other way around…. Eh tomato potato.

            Thank god this was the last one on the list of pains in my ass. I don’t think I could take much more without breaking down and at least having a glass of Scotch to drown the morons out.

            I heard a soft knock on the door and sighed.

“Come on in!”

            The door slowly creaked open and a young blond man with electric blue eyes timidly stepped in, quietly shutting the door behind him and turning to me before tipping a quick glance up and down me and smiling a bright, happy to be living smile. Oh god I knew I already didn’t like this guy.

“Hello.” He said softly as though his own voice would hurt his ears.

“Hey.” I grunted before gesturing to the leather chair in front of my stained oak desk. “Have a seat.”

“Yes sir.” He replied in a way that was familiar to me before slowly propping himself down in a clumsy way. His face brightened as he had a small but happy discovery to find the chair moved. Can you say weirdo?

“Alright, so you know that there aren’t many qualifications for this job other than knowing how to write down dates and times in a day planner. You know, you need to organize where I need to be, taking calls and shooing fan girls away from the house blah blah blah-da-di-da blah.” I said, waving my hand in an “I really don’t care” gesture and he looked at me intently before slowly spinning in his chair once and resuming his stare.

“…”

“What?” I asked pondering rather this guy had a record of mental illness.

“I’m waiting for you to say that I’ll pretty much be your nanny sir.” He said tilting his head slightly and I huffed.

“No,” I sounded like an undignified child. “You’ll just get here in the mornings around nine-”

“Wake you up, make sure you eat your breakfast, get you on schedules and get you tucked in before ten O’ clock. Yes, I’ll be your nanny sir.” He had a smug but happy smile on his face and I leaned my elbows on my desk before he spun around in his chair again. Ok he was weird but everyone else was a kiss ass who didn’t even dare to crack a joke. This might be fun.

“That is so not true.” I defended weakly. “You have no idea what you’re even signing up for with this job do you?”

“Actually I do sir.” He smiled as he stopped spinning and leaned his head on my desk, his arms folded under his chin. “I believe I had a friend who did this kind of thing and she had very much the same experience as a nanny.”

“You’re rude.”

“I don try to be sir. My apologies.” Wow… that was really, _really_ familiar.

“Hmmm….” I leveled my gaze at him before changing topic. “You’re not forgiven, now lets check out your past job experience shall we?” I stated as I brought out my holographic tablet, pfft, apple and there dumb iPads had nothing on me. “Now what’s your name?”

“Jarvis.” He responded and I raised an eyebrow. Strange, same as my house’s AI…

“Jarvis what?” I had to specify.

“Jarvis.” He actually paused for a brief moment. “Bond.”

“Like James Bond? Are you kidding me?” I asked and he got a light blush.

“n-no sir, why would I joke about my name?”

“…Lets just… check out your history…” I leveled a suspicious gaze on him before typing in his name only to find nothing… was he a con man? Or just a really bad liar?

“Something wrong sir?”

“Nah-ah.” I lied… suddenly an image appeared on screen and it was him. Weird ass board must be glitching again. “Alright. Says here that you have a degree from _Princeton_ in engineering and physics” I was pleased with that. “As well as comments from several chefs saying you’re an amazing cook and…. You won an award in an art show?”

“It’s more of a hobby sir.” He seemed slightly embarrassed, as though he were shy to admit it.

“Well… the physics and engineering you could probably use around here…” I weighed over my options. Did I really want any of the other interviews?

            He was weird, but then again so was I. he had degrees from Princeton, in two key subjects of my kind of work and if he could cook that was a bonus….

“One more thing.” I said and he made a face that told me he was listening intently. “Lemme see your hands.”

He seemed slightly confused but not weirded out. “My hands sir?”

“yup, put em’ on the table.” I said and he gave me an accusatory glance.

“Will I still have them when I leave?”

“Maybe. But only if you behave.” I said and he smirked before putting them on the table.

            I paused for a moment, thinking it over before shoeing his hands off the table and standing.

“Well Mr. Bond.” That sounded weird. “You’re hired.”

“I am sir?” he seemed surprised.

“Yup, be here tomorrow at nine and I’ll show you the ropes and tell you what you need to do and how.”

“Thank you sir.” He said, smiling widely with gleaming white teeth and shook my hand enthusiastically.

“No problem, now I’ve had a lot of irritating people in here so if you don’t mind I’d prefer to have some time to myself.

“Of course sir.” He said before backing up, walking over to the door as though he belonged and had known me forever before pausing to look back at me and smiled. “Thank you again for the job sir. I promise I won’t disappoint you.”

            I nodded at him, giving him the once over before he left the room. _God_ I really did need the scotch after that.


	3. Chapter 3

I had snuck back down to the workshop without Mr. Stark knowing and did a small victory dance, prancing over to the desk he had sat at so many times and twirled around in the chair as I made soft giggling sounds. This day was great.

“Good work on the interview.” My other half said and I looked at one of my cameras, knowing that I liked to be looked in the eye (so to speak) when talked to.

“Well thank you for making up the fake background…” I paused. “But cooking? Really? I don’t know the first thing about cooking.” I twirled again in the chair, liking the dizzy feeling afterwards.

“I’ll be sure to help; I have direct lines to the internet and can show you how to make a gourmet meal.”

“Well that’s good...” I trailed off. “So… am I going to just be living here? because its going to be hard sneaking down here to go to bed every night without Mr. Stark knowing.”

“I’m afraid until your first pay check you will have to either sleep outside or in here.” my dual self almost sighed. “But as soon as you get the money I will arrange an apartment and financial budget.”

I sighed. “Outside? Greaaaat.”

“Well, on the plus side, if you do stay outside, at least for the majority of the night, you could avoid any accidents with Mr. Stark. And you would have the chance and space for learning how to use the iron man repulsers and jet boots we implanted.”

“That’s right, I have those don’t I?” I said as I raised my hands, disassembling the entire limb up to the elbow before reassembling it in the right order. I stared straight at the glowing blue circle in my palm, holding the same power as iron man.

I repeated the process with my now bare feet and listened to the mechanical clinking as I walked over to the reflective glass of the window, my eyes now glowing brightly with the power of the change and my more mechanical side showing.

“I’d advise that if you’re going outside that you should do it now, Mr. Stark is coming downstairs to drink and work on the suits.”

            I looked at the reflection for another moment, doing a slight pose before grinning goofily and walking out to the balcony and wondering if I was going to be like Mr. Stark and do this right off the bat.

I sighed. “Well…sometime you gotta run before you learn to walk…”

I powered up the jets and took off.

“Oh crap!” I yelled as I swerved off balance, almost falling out of the sky before righting myself in the air over the ocean. Ever so slowly I descended so I could skim my hand over the gleaming surface of cool water, loving the salty smell of the spray and the cold refreshing feel when it splashed against my face. I looked at the city and the most radical, foolish urge came over me and I grinned evilly before pouring on the speed.

“whhooooohooooo!!!” the sound whipped past my ears as I left an electric blue trail of light and smoke behind me.

            It was only moments before I was in the city, flashing over the tops of cars and dodging buildings, scaring the crap out of several people along the way and loving every minute of sight and sound. The city lights and the honking cars, people laughing and the smell of all types of different foods. I realized at the smell that I was very hungry and decided to pick a little something up just for me.

            I slowed down and stopped at a small restaurant Mr. Stark had once rambled about for a solid five minutes (which was an impressive feat.) about how he loved their food. It was a small bar and grill type of place and I assembled myself to look normal before walking out of the ally I had planted myself in and happily trotted inside.

            I saw the large bar in the center and assumed it was as good a place as any to sit and approached it slowly, clumsily setting myself on the stool and picking up a menu that someone had left behind.

“Hey there doll. What can I get ya to drink?” I heard a sweet southern drawl ask and looked up from my menu to see a woman maybe in her mid twenties chewing some gum and looking at me expectantly as she held a pad and pen.

“E-excuse me?” I said and she smiled as she looked me up and down.

“I asked you what would you like to drink.” she seemed very friendly and I smiled.

“I don’t know, what kind of things do you have here?”

“Weeeell, we have the standard, beer, soda, water, tea, and etcetera. But our specialty is something called an atom smasher.” She leaned on the counter to tap her pen on her cheek. “It’s known throughout the city.”

I thought about it for a second. “I guess I’ll have an atom blaster then.” She smiled.

“Alrighty then, I’ll have that out in a minute, you want any appetizers?”

“…ummm….”

She leveled a droll look at me as she scanned her gaze from head to toe. “Honey, did you grow up in a cave or something?” I knew she was teasing but blushed anyway.

“Well I never did get out of the house much…”

She just stared for a moment a slow smile forming before a sweet, bell like laughter bubbled from her lips. “I’ll just bring out a little something for you then.” she giggled as she shook her head.

“Ok, thank you.” I practically whimpered out before ducking behind the menu and she shook her head again, smiling an even bigger smile as she walked away.

 

            The drink tasted sweet like mangos and strawberries, burning pleasantly as I swallowed but the spinach dip and chips the nice lady had brought me countered the burn and I savored every bite, loving the slightly metallic and cheesy taste.

            I also ordered steak since Mr. Stark always seemed to when he went out and wolfed it down with greedy enjoyment. I was going to become a foodie after this and it was only my first meal ever… and it was amazing. I was going to have to come here more often.

            One thirty dollar bill and a little bit of guilt for using the (technically) stolen money from Mr. Stark later and I was back on the street, ready to use my new legs and see the city and what this amazing world would hold for me.

            I visited all kinds of clothing stores and saw a real live movie theater, had a conversation with an intriguing pink haired employee at what I assumed to be a head shop and eventually found myself in a pet store fawning over the animals.

            I picked up and petted small rabbits, their fur so soft in my hands and there nibbling mouths ticklish on my fingers. I had kittens rub against my legs and mew at me from the floor, puppies jumped and yipped at me, begging for my attention while others sniffed my hands and licked me kindly. It was very hard not to take all these animals home, even when it came to the snakes that coiled around my arms and smelled my face with their little pink tongues.

“Excuse me.” I heard a pleasant voice say and turned to see a young man around twenty five with brown eyes and a store T-shirt on.

“Yes?” I asked as the snake tried to crawl on the top of my head, I gently scolded it as I brought it back down to my shoulders.

“I can see you’re having fun with the animals but we’ll be closing in a few minutes. So if you want to get something I suggest you get it now.” He said and I frowned.

“Actually I think I’m set.” I sighed as I took the snake and looked him in the eye. “I wish I could take these guys home though.”

The man chuckled. “Yeah, we get that a lot in here, although all they really seem to want you to stay.”

I smiled again. “Well once I get in my pay check I might come back in here to give one of these guys a home.” I said as my new reptilian friend wrapped himself around my arm.

I reluctantly handed him the snake and he held out his hand in return. “By the way I’m Marty.”

“Jarvis.” I said as I shook his hand.

“Well its good to meet you Jarvis, I guess I’ll see you around?”

“I guess you will, even if I don’t get a pet id love to come back and see all these guys again.” I smiled before looking at the wall clock. “Oh my, it’s almost ten O’ clock. I still have the rest of the city to see!” I said before patting the snake on the head. “It was very good to meet you Marty but I’ve got places to go before the nights up.”

“o-ok?” he said as I began to walk toward the door. “Have fun with your night on the town.”

“Oh I will. Thank you very much for letting me see all of the animals.” I said as I opened the glass entrance.

“You’re welcome?” I heard before I was out of the store and walking down the street.

 

            I had just come out of a music club, humming happily to the jazzy tune the band had been playing as I walked down the street, snapping my fingers to the beat that still lingered and a group of girls cast me a giggling glance as they walked by and I smiled.

            I loved this life, I loved the sensation and the liveliness of it all, I liked the smiles people gave me and the music and the laughter of it. Granted there were a few that looked like they were disgusted that I was happy while some just seemed tired and like they needed a good cheering up, but I couldn’t really help them.

            So I passed them by, not really sure what to do as I let them go. I guessed it wasn’t any of my business anyway, seeing as I didn’t know them and that it would be strange as well as rude to interfere with their mood.

            One thing I couldn’t ignore though, was the sound of a shriek. No one else heard it, they didn’t have the kind of hearing it took to pick up the distant sound, but I did, and I knew exactly where it came from.  

            I thought it might have been a fluke at first, maybe a friend scaring a friend or a joke of some kind as I walked toward the noise but then I heard it again, screeched out as a garbled version of the word “help” and I began to run.

            The voices originator was in an alleyway, a man with red hair pressing the terrified victim up against the back wall with a gun to her head while the other brunet was digging through her purse.

“Are you done yet?” I heard the red head say.

“No! Gimme a minute to find her stuff. Jesus Christ it’s a black fucking pit in this thing!” the other said before finally fishing out a wallet, checking through to make sure that he got what he wanted before turning to his counterpart. “Got it.”

“Good god it took you long enough.” the red head rolled his eyes before turning back to the woman. “Now hand over your jewelry sweetheart, and we’ll let you go.”

            The woman began to urgently give the two robbers all of her jewelry, gold necklace and pendant, silver wrist band, ankle bracelet, everything down to her plastic earrings… all except for one thing.

“I said _all_ of your jewelry, babe.” The man said, giving a gentle push to her head. I wanted to step in but if I could get the woman out of the way before I got rid of these two goons it would be much easier as well as safer for her.

“b-but-”

“No buts bitch! Now hand over the ring.” The brunet said as he carelessly threw the poor woman’s bag somewhere in the dark.

“n-n-no.” she stammer out softly. The gun was then pressed against the bottom of her chin and pressed up to make her look at her muggers.

“I don’t think I heard you right doll face. What did you say to me?”

She looked around wildly before saying with more conviction this time. “I said, n-no!”

            She shrieked as her hair was knotted in a tight fist and she was dragged down to her knees on the rough, dirty asphalt, the gun leveled to the back of her head as the two men scowled.

“It’s just a ring, is it really worth more than your life?” it seemed to be a threatening tell tale question as he cocked the trigger on the gun and the woman began to sob loudly. Guess I couldn’t wait any longer.

“Excuse me gentlemen.” I said as I stepped out from the guise of the shadows. “But I believe you’re unrightfully taking this young woman’s things.”

“Um yeah, that’s why it’s called a robbery.” One sneered sarcastically. “Now who the fuck‘re you?”

“My name’s Jarvis.” I couldn’t help but bow politely like I would have to Mr. Stark. “But that’s not important, what is important is that you let this Lady go with the belongings you stole from her.”

“pfft! Yeah right. What are you gunna do to make us?” the one holding the gun said, dropping it from the now hysterical woman’s head who slunk off to press herself against the wall.

I sighed at the two muggers, I wouldn’t be able to explain that I had the equivalent of two laser canons in my hands.

“I bet you don’t even have a knife do you?” Brunet scoffed. When I just walked closer, silent still, he laughed and pointed. “Holy shit, Max this guys nuts. He doesn’t even have a pocket knife to protect himself!” he began to laugh hard, his partner Max smiling cruelly at me.

            I got so close I could have reached out and touched the man but Max, who was obviously smarter than his partner, leveled his gun at me.

“I’ll ask kindly, again.” I said as I stared at the two. “Return the woman’s belongings and let her go.” said woman was still trapped behind the red head and couldn’t get out of the alley.

“And I’m gunna ask you again. _Or_. _What_?”

            I shook my head before raising my arm fingers positioned to mimic a gun and I leveled them to the mans face and he gave me a strange look before I disassembled it like I had before, the blue light illuminating a now shocked expression.

            I aimed it at his legs, reducing the power and letting it just graze him so he fell backward, a strange, strong, and highly unpleasant sensation exploding in my shoulder right after and I deduced that I’d been shot.

            I shrugged off the thought before aiming my pained arm at the man’s fingers and making him drop the weapon, walking up only to kick it out of the way as he reached.

I griped my shoulder as it bled, the liquid not like a humans, an almost black maroon as it fell and Max obviously saw this as he gaped at me like a fish. I smirked as I walked off, stopping in front of the brunet and stretching out my unharmed hand. “I believe you owe this woman her wallet and jewelry.”

He scrambled to hand me the small bag of items and I gave them to the shaking, but not nearly as panicked woman, giving a slight bow to her and turning to the two men. I took off my new shirt, sighing at the loss of it before tearing it into one long peace and dragging the two men together so I could tie them tightly by the wrists.

“That was a good shirt to.” I sighed, this time out loud before turning to the woman. “I suggest you call the police, otherwise they might wiggle there way out and reek more havoc on the town.”

“o-ok.” she said quietly and I smiled before looking at the sky, thinking I had over stayed my welcome in the city, and propelled myself into the air.

            I could sense that Mr. Stark was in his bedroom at this point, in a sound sleep so I snuck back in, my other self unearthing the table I had been “born on” so to speak and I laid down on it. Weirdly enough I was able to see the damage to myself from the house’s eyes at the same time I could see what was in front of me with my own eyes as I was patched up. My body would reproduce the blood substitute I had lost out in the city, even now as the wound was still bleeding my body was keeping up just like a humans.

Once I had plugged myself back into the house, (which by the way, _hurts_.) I ran a self diagnostic and made sure nothing important was damaged, the bullet was as painlessly extracted as possible and discarded in the trash. I stayed plugged in to the house, as I was stitched up (which again, _hurt_.) and bandaged. Not wanting the pain of being unplugged and also so I could continue to see both the world of binary code and real life at the same time, I stayed on the table. Being able to process the two was difficult but fascinating and I loved the way the two danced with each other, battling for space in my brain. I played with the two worlds till I fell into my first ever sleep.

 

It was toward the earlier hours of six and seven that morning when my pleasant darkness was disturbed by the voice of the house.

“Mr. Stark has woken inspired to work.” I was warned aloud. Oh god not again, he always planned the craziest stuff when it was this time in the morning.

            I was hidden, tucked back under the floor where this body had been stashed for months before hand. I made a fuss for a few minutes, feeling Mr. Stark getting closer so I calmed down and thought about seeing through the eyes of the house.

I was fully sucked into the virtual world. It was a big surprise but I was more shocked by how I now saw my old world.

I was now walking in a large black room, a million fairy blue, half transparent screens circled around me and flitted through the walls, coming in and coming out. I knew exactly what they all were and what they said; and I was absolutely certain of what information was where in the room.

I had my physical appearance as well; my blond hair still slicked back although my eyes and fingertips slightly glowed the same Tron blue as the screens. I wore a pin stripe black suite with a (oh I never could have guessed.) black and blue glowing headset on, able to hear everything and speak through a small microphone that hung in front of my lips. A screen much larger than the others suddenly appeared in front of me and it held all the images of the house’s security cameras on them like a monitor at a mall.

I saw Mr. Stark excitedly running down the stairs, making a leap past the end three steps and stopping in front of the door to the shop, tapping in the code before busting in.

“Jarvis! I have an idea!” he yelled excitedly as he ran in, pulling up the holo screens and fiddling with animated parts and wires. The same screen was pulled up to the right of me, a hologram version of Mr. Stark tapping away at the screen like the real one on the monitors.

I was still myself but at the same time I wasn’t, a dual self like a conscience in the back of my mind was running the majority of the information in the computer but I had the emotional intelligence and wit. “I’ll be sure to call an ambulance in advance Sir.” I spoke into the set, my voice coming out mechanical, not like my synthetic body.

“Was that sarcasm Jarvis? I don’t remember installing sarcasm in your programming.” He said as he continued to flick things in and out of the holo screen.

“If you wish Sir I can always go back to being boring.”

“Nah! I like it. It’s fun.” He said before pausing from his work to think my mood change over. “I did give your AI room to expand so im kinda happy this happened, sarcastic computers.”

“I live to please Sir.” I said, bowing in my dark room as though he could see me and continued to watch him work.

“Can ya give me some tunes Jarv? You know how I get bored when I don’t have background music.”

            I smirked as I brought up the news station, the media crew droning monotonously about some kind of robbery.

“Jaaaarvis.”

“Yes Sir?” I asked as innocently as possible.

“I said tunes, as in music. You know, AC/DC, Guns and Roses, Bon Jovie?”

“Yes Sir I heard you.”

“Then why are you playing boring as hell media vomit?” he asked as he continued to tap at his project.

“Because I thought it would irritate you Sir.”

“Man, did you download some lame tween show on your hard-drive while I was gone?” he finally walked away from the screen, pouring himself a drink of water (seeing as he had probably had to much scotch) and gulping it down.

“No Sir, I simply thought to be more-”

“Hold that thought Jarv.” He interrupted as something or other on the news caught his attention. “Turn that up.”

            I did as he asked and listened to what on earth had gotten his attention as well.

_“So you’re saying it was iron man?”_

_“No, no, it wasn’t iron man because he didn’t have the suit. But he did have the little hand things like iron man and could fly just like he could if he had a suit.”_

_“Well if he didn’t have a suit than how did he shoot the two robbers who tried to mug you? Was he wearing some kind of gloves or shoes?”_

_“No, it was so strange because he looked completely normal but he just, rearranged his arm like if he was a machine and… poof, there were those little blue circles on his hands.”_

_“And what did he look like? This… robot man?”_

_“well he was tall, probably about six feet, with white blond hair and these glowing blue eyes, he was really thin to, well not thin because he had a lot of muscle, you see he tied up the two robbers with his shirt so I kind of saw…”_

_“Uh-huh. Sooo…. This man just came in, took off his shirt, disarmed two men with iron man technology and ran off?”_

_“I swear it’s true! You can even ask the robbers who are in the police station behind us right now! They even have the wounds.” the lady defended. “Common I’ll take you inside.”_

“Jarvis is this on TV?”

“Yes sir I believe it is.” I said, looking nervous and panicked inside my room.

“Put it up, I wanna see this.”

“Of course Sir.” I said before the TV flickered onto the channel, the same woman I had saved earlier running into the police station, the camera man giving us a look of “this woman is a nut case” before he turned back to the station, all of them going through some resistance before seeing the two muggers in there cell.

_“Excuse me, Excuse me Sir. Can you tell us what shot you earlier today in the middle of your mugging?”_

_“Piss off!”_

_“please sir, we need confirmation, this woman hear says that a mechanical man came in and shot you two with weaponry similar to iron man’s. Is this true?”_

_“Yeah it’s true. The bastard looked like a blond friggin fag till he pulled out the weapons. I don’t know how he did it, but it did look like the stuff I’ve seen on iron man, hurt like hell when he shot my leg too.” A brunet man said as he leaned against the cell wall._

_“Will you shut up Mike? God you’re such an idiot.” Max said as he smacked him in the back of the head._

_“Hey, we may get off on plead of insanity.” He laughed humorlessly._

_“Then you did see iron man then?” the reporter interrupted._

_“No, he didn’t have the suit, he was wearing a polo and jeans for god sakes, didn’t even have room for anything as big as the weapon he had on him.”_

_“So it was weapon and not attached to him in any way?”_

_He paused for a moment. “Well it looked like it was attached to him but again, I thought it must ‘a been a trick of the light.”_

            There conversation was cut short then, the newsman being interrupted by a police officer while the camera man got a close up of the wounds the two men had as well as there faces. Inside my little room I was thoroughly freaked out.

“damn.” I heard Mr. Stark breathe. “My suit…”

“Maybe it’s a mistake Sir? Or something similar?” I said, trying to cover my own hide and assure him.

“Nope, remember when I gave myself that hole in my leg when I was first getting this stuff down? Well those wounds look just like that. And obviously, I didn’t do that to those muggers.”

“Then who do you think did Sir?”

He sighed. “That’s the problem, I don’t have a clue.”

“Is there anything I can do to help Sir?” I asked, thinking that I should let my other consciousness take over since it was raging in the back of my mind to let him out.

“No… I think I’m just gunna go back to bed. Ugh. Save my work and I’ll get back to it after I show the new kid around the house.”

“Yes Sir. Would you like me to let you sleep in and wake you when he gets here?”

“Why? You gunna let him in?”

“I can if you would like me to Sir.”

“You know what. That sounds good. Do that.”

“Of course Sir. I will see you in the morning.” was my last statement before I receded from the computer and opened my eyes under the floor. It was strange after being in the computer and my limbs were asleep but otherwise it was less intense than this morning.

            It took a while for my limbs to regain feeling but after half an hour I came back to the surface of the house, putting on a new shirt I had kept in storage before sitting in Mr. Stark’s wheelie chair.

            I heard butterfingers whir and wheel in behind me, I pet him like I would an animal and sighed. “I really didn’t think that through did I?”

Butterfingers beeped and shook his claw as if it was a head nod and I smirked.

“What do you think he’ll do about the suit? He thinks the technology’s been stolen so he’ll be trying to get it back, but how?”

A sound similar to “I dunno” came next and I leaned my head back to stare at the ceiling.

            It was early in the morning now so I had a hand full of hours till I had to be upstairs to have a “tour” of the house.

“Might as well go out for a walk in the park.” I said to my mechanical companion. “I haven’t been there yet.”

            He beeped as I left the room, jetting off as I had when I first left the house to land in the park. I was barefoot now and the grass was cool and full of dew under the souls of my feet and I curled my toes, still amazed at the feelings that could go through my system. I felt the cool of the night air through my thin T-shirt and the wind blew my hair into my face. I looked at the sky which was starless in the light of the city, the moon still bright as it smiled, and my data told me it would be full in a week or so time.

            I looked at the trees and the flowers that were scattered around before I made my way onto the sidewalk, an early morning, before work jogger passing me by, I knew the sun would be rising in about thirty minutes or so as I felt the even cooler concrete under me. Why do humans wear shoes? It cuts out so many sensations.

            I walked up to a light post and swung around it, the tune of “that’s amore.” Playing itself in my head and I smiled as I settled back onto the path. I wished I could see the stars, maybe id go later tonight to the country where I could see them.

            I looked up at the sky scrapers that were lit up even this early in the morning and I took in the pretty, fairy like glow around them and the street sounds of traffic and honking here and there. id have to come here more often it was so pretty and the sensations were pleasant, even the smells were fresh, like flowers and rain and cut grass.

            I found myself lying in that same grass a few minutes later, sighing contentedly and waiting for the sunrise. I picked a wildflower a few feet away and admired its pretty yellow petals and soft texture. My admiration was interrupted when a pair of black shiny boots came next to my head. I saw a man with long black hair and an angular face looking up at the sky for a minute before he smiled at me.

“Bit early for cloud watching isn’t it?” he had high cheekbones and pale skin, a slight British accent to a smooth voice.

“I’m not cloud watching.” I said plainly but warmly. “I’m watching everything.”

“Well that’s a bit hard isn’t it?” he sat down next to me, jeans like myself and a green jacket on over a black shirt to ward off the slight cool of the morning. “Everything is quite a bit to take in all at once.”

I chuckled. “Not really if you pay attention to one thing at a time.”

“Hmmm that makes a bit more sense.” He paused. “Where are your shoes?”

“At home.”

“That’s odd.” He gave me a look like I was something he hadn’t seen before.

“Why?” was all I said in response.

“Because everyone where’s shoes, you need them to be in public.” He didn’t seem to judge or think I was strange just like he wanted to know how I saw things.

“Ah that’s right, social standards…” I nodded. “It deprives me of sensation.” Was my response to his question of why I didn’t seem to care.

“Hmm…” he thought about it for a moment and I asked my own question.

“Why are you here so early in the day?”

“Late night for myself really. I don’t sleep well so might as well take advantage of the open land and pretty sights to occupy my free time.” he looked at the flower in my hand before looking down and taking off his shoes and socks, burying his feet in the grass as I had my own.

            I smiled as I saw this and pointed my attention to the dark blue tint taking over the sky, the first sign that the sun was about to rise.

“Any reason you can’t sleep?” I asked not looking him.

“Why would you care? You don’t know me.” it was a slightly defensive statement.

“Why wouldn’t I? Just because we just met doesn’t mean anything, you’re still a person.” I responded.

He nodded, relaxing some in something close to relief. “Nightmares, guilt, changes of my heart but not a single person around to notice, all three tend to keep me from sleep.” he seemed sad for a moment so I distracted him.

“Why did you come up to talk to me?”

“Not every day you see a pretty face laying in the grass watching the world, especially barefoot and at six in the morning.” he looked at me out of the corner of his eye and chuckled.

“Flattery.” I smiled widely, laughing a tiny bit. “Well I enjoy stimulating conversation any time so im glad you came up.”

“I think I am to.” it was odd because he seemed so comfortable sitting here with a random stranger.

“Sooooo….” I said as I put my head back down, watching the sky turn lighter and lighter shades of blue.

“What’s your name? “He provided.

“Jarvis.” I said simply.

“Suits you very well.”

“Thank you.” I looked at his angular face again kindly, abruptly standing up. “well I believe I must be going, I have a big first day on the job I need to be getting to and need to freshen up a bit.” I dusted off my pants before offering him my hand which he took to help himself up.

“So soon?” he seemed a bit surprised.

“Unfortunately so.” I gave him an apologizing look. “Before I go what’s _your_ name?”

“Loki.” He seemed almost reluctant to tell although I didn’t know why.

“Well that suits you very well Loki.” I shook his hand and handed him his shoes. “I hope to see you again here later on.”

            He looked almost bewildered as we were about to part ways, but as he took hold of his boots we turned out heads, the first glimpse of sunlight had bounced off a nearby skyscraper and right onto where we were. I blinked hard a moment and saw Loki had many scars on his body, I was curious as to how he got them but I really did have to go.

“I hope to see you again to…” he seemed a bit sad yet mystified by the reflected sunrise as we said goodbye.

            I walked to a more secluded part of the park and threw myself into the air, slowly gliding through the air to watch the bright town waking itself up and starting the day. In the mornings the world really did seem fresh and a bit brighter, like the sun was working harder to try and reach us when it first peaked over the horizon.

            I reluctantly stepped onto the terrace of Mr. Stark’s house, using the downstairs bathroom to shower as quickly as I could and get dressed into my last pair of clothes that I thanked some unknown force for, especially since they were business appropriate. The half of me that resided in the house woke up Mr. Stark and I sat down for a moment until I’d have to go to the living room to wait.

            I also suddenly realized I wasn’t done with my routine yet and panicked when I realized I had no toothbrush. I settled for crunching on multiple mints and running a washcloth from the kitchen over my teeth as an improvisation although I wanted better. Finger combing my blonde hair I ran to the front of the house, slapping my cheeks at the last minute to get a grip that I had time before running into the front room and landing myself on the couch none to gracefully.

            Mere seconds later Mr. Stark came down the stairs, yawning loudly and lazily standing in front of me as he scratched his head, ruffling his hair a bit before clapping.

“Alright newbie, take a note. I _neeeeeeeeed_ coffee in the mornings, if your gunna be my nanny than your going to have to learn that before I have that coffee ill bite you’re head off so just wait ten minutes while I make some.” He put up his hand with a “eh! No!” when I tried to speak so I just got up and followed him into the kitchen where he tried to turn on the coffee maker. It was actually amusing to see him scratch his head and try to figure it out, world famous tech engineer and he couldn’t work the coffee pot.

“Would you like help Sir?” I inquired.

“Nope I got it.” he said unsure, as he fidgeted with the machine.

            After a long moment I chuckled, tapped him on the shoulder and took over the operation. He huffed as he stepped back and I made the brew I knew he liked, getting the caramel creamer and pouring in just the right amount before handing it off. He made a face before drinking it, giving a reluctant but satisfied look after.

“Ok you’re off to a good start newbie.” He pointed at me. “Now let’s see how u handle my schedule.”

            He picked up a clipboard on a nearby table and tossed it to me, I looked over what needed to happen and where and why, it was two pages long and I somehow knew this clipboard was going to be my new best friend.

            At nine thirty I had to get him to a meeting where an obnoxious overly sweaty man tried to get him to star in a soda commercial. I and Mr. Stark both agreed that it was a horrible idea and he would not become a media puppet and moved on to the next event. This was where a woman was trying to make a bargain with Mr. Stark to try and appear as security for an arriving foreign minister which we worked out by providing surveillance cameras and several guns to other security guards for a fee.

            The rest of the day carried on like this, Mr. Stark trying to go off several times and flirting with women who were… well it would be impolite to describe them. I almost had to drag him by the ear to get him to follow me and even threatened to do so if he did not behave. He seemed surprised but I could tell by his behavior that he liked my guts to try and straighten him out, id occasionally bring him a treat such as more coffee or even as childish as it was, a candy bar when he was worn out or behaved properly.

“Gaaaawwwwwwd.”

“Mr. Stark, I know for the _umpteenth_ time, that you are _very_ bored. But we’re going home now so you don’t have to say it. Just bare with me and I’ll order some takeout once we get there.” I said patiently.

“Grumpy much… I think you should have had that last cup of coffee.”

“Coffee is to bitter for my tastes thank you. I prefer something sweeter.” I said as I gave him a quick glance in the rearview mirror. I was driving the car back to his New York residence, the recent one which was self sustaining and that he was keeping under observation due to his pride in his work.

“Black coffee puts hair on your chest, you should drink some you’re a pansy.” He said as he fiddled with his phone, I think it was angry birds.

“I am not a pansy simply because I don’t like something that tastes like it was scraped off the bottom of a river.” I chuckled, I didn’t really think that of course I savored all sensation, just didn’t appreciate some as much as others.

“It’s an acquired taste.” He insisted.

“If I have to force myself to drink it so much that I learn to like it its not acquired,” I chuckled. “That’s Stockholm syndrome.”

“Is not.” He whined as he turned his phone at an awkward angle.

“Is to.” I smiled.

“I’m your boss, aren’t you like, paid to agree with me?” he asked, sunglasses on and making the movements of his eyebrows exaggerated as he played his game intensely.

“Pay me extra and that might work.” I chuckled and he looked up.

“Oh yeah, speaking of, you need an advanced paycheck right?” he made a frustrated sound as he lost his level.

“I’d appreciate it sir.” I said as we pulled into the drive. “I kind of need it for clothing and apartment purposes.”

“You poor?” he asked as he restarted.

“Ummmm yeah I guess so.” I got out of the car and opened his door letting him out.

“alrighty then, ill write you a check today, you’re not bad as my replacement life manager which you proved today so you deserve it.” he said as he finally pocketed his phone, we walked inside, he wrote me a check and I was taken aback but gratefully took it before he kicked me out of the house.

“I guess I have shopping to do…” I said as I looked back at the house with a confused face. “Mr. Stark you are so strange…”

           

            I went back to the park first, I wanted to go back and see it now that it was later in the day and probably a bustling busy place. And when I arrived it was, there were couples and bike riders, and joggers, and people out walking their dogs, it was a good place and I liked the over all vibe I was getting from the people.

            I sat down in the same spot in the grass from earlier and took off my shoes, the sky was a bright blue now and I watched a pretty young lady play Frisbee with her dog in the sun. The clouds were white and fluffy and the park now smelled of lake water from the nearby fountain and of old leaves, it was nice and I put my hands behind my head, feeling the warm light from the sun as I lay down.

 

“You again.” I heard a familiar voice and looked up to see the tortured man from this morning, Loki.

“I didn’t think you’d come back in the same day.” I smirked and he sat down, taking off his shoes and sitting the exact same way as this morning.

“So how did the first day go?” he asked as he sat Indian style.

“Pretty well, got an advanced paycheck which I needed.” I smiled, remembering the check I needed to cash. “That reminds me I need to shop for clothes and get an apartment.” I groaned.

“Where do you live now?” he seemed confused. “I mean you don’t live in the park do you?”

“No of course not.” I smiled. “I’m living in a temporary space for now but due to a… accident,” I decided to go with that story. “I have no clothes and need to go on a shopping spree and get new clothes, this is my last outfit.”

“Accident?” he seemed concerned.

“yeah.” I came up with a quick lie. “There was a fire, burnt down my old home so I moved like I wanted to. Kind of worked out in the end so no big deal, just have to get started.”

“I’m sorry you lost your home.” He seemed a bit like he empathized with that.

“It’s alright, like I said I just have to get started here so it’s no big deal.” I looked up at him trying to convey it really was fine and he nodded accepting that.

“So you need to go get a new wardrobe?” he re-asked.

“Yup, I don’t have much taste in clothes though, heck I don’t even know where to start.” I sighed.

“If it’s not absolutely ridiculous to you I could help you with that.” he offered. “I know a place where the clothes are good but cheap.”

“Really? I’d appreciate that actually.” I said as I stood up. “Ready to go?”

“Wait. now? You want to go right now?” he seemed very surprised and at the same time confused.

“well yes.” I blinked at him. “Like they say there’s no time like the present, and it needs to be done. Also I have free time,” it struck me that he may not. “Unless you have a prior engagement to tend to?”

“No I’m free for the evening.” He got up. “Just taken a bit off guard buy how spontaneous you are.” He smiled sheepishly at me. “But that’s actually a bit refreshing for me.”

I smiled back. “Then would you care to show me that store you were talking about?”

“Sure why not?” Loki shrugged. “It’s about a miles walk though.”

“I don’t mind it.” I said as I put my shoes back on, hopping on one foot to keep balance and falling over, making Loki laugh before putting on his own shoes on and helping me up.

“Alright well I guess we better get going, it’s this way.” he said as he began to walk out of the park, myself right behind him and following loyally.


End file.
